Italy: Fruttadoro-Orogel group celebrates 50th anniversary

The Gruppo Fruttadoro-Orogel's new bulletin is dedicated to the company's 50th anniversary. "The first cooperative was established in 1967. Together with Apa, Capor, Apora and GranFrutta Zani, Copa created Consorzio Fruttadoro, a project which then became Orogel".

Bruno Piraccini, Orogel CEO and President of Consorzio Fruttadoro, knows everything about the history of the group which, over the years, has had as many as 2000 members.

"The need to create a consortium to take care of its members' needs led to the creation of Consorzio Fruttadoro di Romagna. Its purpose was to assist, strengthen and promote the production of the coops that were part of it."

Bruno Piraccini and Orogel director Giancarlo Foschi

"Those were thrilling years, characterised by hard work. Often, after working for the Consortium, we had to work for the cooperatives or attend board meetings. We never knew what time we would be home but it was okay, as we wanted the group to be a success."

The bulletin, published in the House Organ, is 20 pages long and filled with photographs from the beginning to the present day.

There is also a large photo of the laying of the first stone of the Fruttadoro facility (now called Orogel 1) on 1st June 1975 in the presence of Giovanni Marcora (photo above - to this day considered the best Minister of Agriculture Italy has ever had).

The Consortium initially had a facility in Cesena, when Francesco Antonelli was President and Bruno Piraccini was the director. The production of frozen products evolved from a first idea to lyophilise fruit and vegetables, which was carried out by coop Capor (currently Orogel Fresco).

Bird's eye view of the Cesena facility (photo Cris. Rici.)

"Me and production manager Roberto Prazzoli came up with the name Orogel. Those were also the years hair gel products boomed, so many thought we were making haircare products!"

In the beginning, Orogel made 2.5 kg frozen vegetable bags sold in 10 kg packets. Then, an agent suggested making smaller formats for retail and we started supplying the Standa chain."

In 1987, the first big automatic warehouse was inaugurated (-25%) for the storage and handling of frozen products, the first of its kind in Italy.

Orogel products in a Russian supermarket

Thanks to sponsorship of Cesena Calcio F.C. (in Serie A at the time), between the late 1980s and early 1990s the brand became more and more popular. The company introduced innovative products such as Cubello (small spinach cubes) and Verdurì.

February 2011, positioning of the tunnel connecting the two Orogel production facilities in Cesena

Big promotional campaigns were also carried out on national TV and other means of communication. The company continues to grow and an additional production facility is being built next to the first one.

The building of the new facility (photo taken on 15/03/2017)

Between 2016 and 2018, the company is planning on investing €80 million - 30 will be destined to the new production facility and 7 to a new controlled temperature system.